Old roads, forest trails are ripe for exploring

May 3, 2012

Written by

James

KAVANAUGH

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I love to drive! The wonderful part about driving in Missouri is that there are a lot of roads not on the map. Well, if you have an old enough map then you may find these roads.

Some of them are now under lakes; others have grown over from disuse. These are the most fun of them all!

I especially love getting down into the Mark Twain National Forest.

If youíre able to get past barriers like barb wire fences, fallen trees and the occasional sinkhole then there is no telling where you may end up.

I have driven from Ava in Douglas County to Bradleyville in Taney County without touching more than five miles of pavement, and not much more than that of actual graded road. There are a lot of logging trails in those woods.

Of course there are lots of other things in those woods best not mentioned nor discovered. I also do my very best never to cross the purple dots I see on trees.

Back where I come from, we use little things called ďno trespassingĒ signs, but eventually I figured out that the purple dots mean pretty much the same thing.

The Department of Conservation has a lot of roads that can be fun to hike or explore with the appropriate vehicle.

They are real good about telling you where you canít go, but once you have that figured out then youíre bound for a good time.

Again, in Douglas County or Stone and Taney counties closer to the lakes, there are plenty of great places to do some exploring.

One of my absolute favorites is Glade Top Trail. Many of the roads in this neck of the woods are well-maintained and graded. But itís not hard to spot lots of side trails used by hikers and horses to explore many of the valleys along the Glade Top area. There is a lot of history here and markers line the road and trails sharing this information with you.

It never hurts to have hunting gear during the right season or fishing gear any time of the year. There are dozens of little creaks and ponds that have been stocked over the years and forgotten about or left to their own demise. Keep in mind while a lot of this is national forest, a lot of it is privately owned or leased. So it never hurts to find who might own a particular area you are looking to explore in.

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Itís a great area for really roughing it. I have camped and hiked in many locations along this stretch of country. Other things to keep in mind include black bears and bobcats. There are many other critters running around besides the ever-plentiful coyote, deer and turkey. There are even rumors of the occasional cougar or mountain lion, even though we donít have those around here, I have been told.

Just about every sort of crawling bug and spider can be found here, too. We once caught a jumping tarantula with a baseball cap. Well, it caught the cap and kept on cruising. I think the biggest challenge to that whole situation was getting the cap back.

Snakes are always plentiful in Missouri. Wear good boots and learn how to dance. If you havenít taken dance lessons, a walk on the Glade Top could be just what you need.

After one particular hike during a very hot afternoon, I not only avoided getting snake bit from the timber rattlers out there, but I picked up some great two-step moves I could use at the cowboy club that very evening! The only thing I can add is the national forest is supposed to be out there for us, all of us. So take care of it!

Haul out what you take in, watch out for each other because we donít always know who is out there, and most of all enjoy the little things you come across and leave them to their business.